MEMORANDUM 

TO:    Mayor and Council Members 

FROM:    Kimberly Olivares, Chief Performance Officer  

DATE:    February 12, 2020 

SUBJECT:  2019 Community Survey Results 

I am pleased to release the results of the 2019 Community Survey. Each year, the City of Austin partners with an 
outside consultant (ETC Institute) to administer a community survey to assess satisfaction with the delivery of 
major City services and understand community priorities in alignment with Strategic Direction 2023 (SD23) 
outcomes. A total of 2,049 surveys were completed between June 29 and September 16, 2019, with a minimum 
of 200 per Council district. The survey was conducted using a random sample and resulted in a 95% confidence 
level and margin of error of +/‐ 2.2%. The survey provides valuable data to the organization to drive 
conversations about how we can improve services and the quality of life of our residents. 

Overall, ETC Institute found that the City of Austin continues to set the standard for service delivery in numerous 
areas. For example, the overall quality of City services, communications, customer service, solid waste services, 
and the condition of neighborhood streets all rated 15% or more about the national average for large U.S. cities. 
In addition, Austin as a place to work, to live, and to raise children rated, respectively, 27%, 19%, and 12% higher 
than the national average for large U.S. cities. Last, satisfaction with the overall quality of City services remains 
high in all City Council districts. 

Following adoption of Strategic Direction 2023 in 2018, the Office of Performance Management redesigned the 
survey to align with the six strategic outcomes. The survey provides data for 31 of the SD23 performance 
measures. Of the 31 measures, 5 align with the top 10 indicator categories as prioritized by City Council. The 
table on the following page outlines those measures and the change in satisfaction between 2018 and 2019. 

You may recall that with the release of the 2018 survey results, staff also published a dashboard to facilitate 
public examination of the data since 2015 (when the survey shifted to gathering results based on Council 
district). The dashboard allows individuals to view satisfaction and dissatisfaction ratings for each question and 
filter based on Council district, race/ethnicity, gender, age, income, and if the respondent is a homeowner or 
renter. This dashboard, as well as the written reports for each survey since 2013, can be found on the Austin 
Finance Online website. 

Staff is committed to utilizing data to drive improvements to City services as well as advancing implementation 
of the City Council priorities outlined in Strategic Direction 2023. I am available for any questions you may have. 
Community Survey Dashboard 

Survey Questions/Measures in Alignment with Council’s Top Ten SD23 Indicator Priorities 
2018  2019 
Outcome  Indicator  Measure  Satisfaction  Satisfaction  Change 
Accessibility to and  Percentage satisfaction with transportation 
equity of multi‐modal  options (aside from personal vehicle) to get 
transportation  around Austin (e.g. ride share, bus/train, 
Mobility  choices  bike, walk)  26%  24%  ‐2% 
Percentage of people who agree they were 
Fair administration of  treated fairly during our enforcement and 
Safety  justice  judicial processes *   55%  52%  ‐3% 
Accessibility to quality 
parks, trails, and 
Health &  recreational  Percentage of residents satisfied with Parks 
Environment  opportunities  and Recreation programs and facilities *  69%  66%  ‐3% 
Percentage of residents who report having 
Health &  Climate Change and  high levels of social support through friends 
Environment  Resilience  and neighbors outside of their home  75%   78%  3% 
Condition/quality of 
City facilities and  Percentage of residents and employees who 
Government  infrastructure and  are satisfied with the condition of City‐
that Works  effective adoption of  owned facilities (e.g. cleanliness, safety, 
for All  technology  accessibility)  65%  62%  ‐3% 
* Satisfaction ratings for these measures are weighted because they require combining responses from 2 or more survey questions. 

CC:  Spencer Cronk, City Manager 
  Nuria Rivera‐Vandermyde, Deputy City Manager (Government that Works for All) 
Rey Arellano, Assistant City Manager (Safety) 
Gina Fiandaca, Assistant City Manager (Mobility) 
Rodney Gonzales, Assistant City Manager (Economic Opportunity and Affordability) 
Christopher Shorter, Assistant City Manager (Health and Environment, Culture and Lifelong Learning) 
Elaine Hart, Chief Financial Officer 
  Ed Van Eenoo, Deputy Chief Financial Officer 
  Department Directors 
 City of Austin 
2019 Community Survey
Findings
Presented by

ETC Institute

1
 Methodology
• Survey Description
– survey redesigned to ensure complete alignment with strategic
outcomes
– included many of the questions that were asked on surveys
administered between 2013 and 2019
• Method of Administration
– conducted Summer of 2019 by mail and Internet to a randomly
selected sample of households with follow-up by email
– each survey took approximately 15 minutes to complete
• Sample size:
– 2,049 completed surveys
– a minimum of 200 surveys completed in each of the City’s 10
Council Districts
• Confidence level: 95%
• Margin of error: +/- 2.2% overall
2
2019 City of Austin
Community Survey

Location of
Respondents

3
Most Residents Feel Good About Living in Austin, But the City Gets Lower Ratings as a Place to Retire.
4
Satisfied with Libraries and Cultural Services/Programs is Very High
5
Residents Are 5 Times More Likely to Be Satisfied with the Overall Quality of City Services
Than They Are to Be Dissatisfied (60% Satisfied vs. 12% Dissatisfied) 6
6
 Solid Waste and Parks/Recreation Related Services and Facilities Rated Very High.
Cleanliness of City Streets/Public Areas Was the Only Area in This Category That Had High Levels of Dissatisfaction.7
7
Residents Generally Feel Good About Public Safety Services,
Particularly Fire and EMS. 8
8
Residents Feel Least Safe in Downtown Austin at Night
9
Satisfaction with Planning and Housing Related Issues Were Among the Lowest Rated Areas on the Survey.
Although Development Review, Permitting, and Inspection Services Rated Low, Overall Satisfaction
Increased from 2018-19. 10 10
 81% of Residents Are Satisfied with the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, But
Most Residents Are Dissatisfied with Traffic Flow on Highways (83%) and Major City Streets (64%) 11
11
 Q13-01 Overall quality of services provided by the City

Satisfaction with
the Overall Quality
of City Services
Is High in All
City Council
Districts

Citizen Satisfaction
Mean rating on a 5-point scale

1.0-1.8 Very Dissatisfied

1.8-2.6 Dissatisfied
2.6-3.4 Neutral
3.4-4.2 Satisfied
4.2-5.0 Very Satisfied
No Response

ETC INSTITUTE

2019 City of Austin Community Survey 12

Shading reflects the mean rating for all respondents by Council District)
Setting the Standard 
(more that 15% above the national average)
 City of Austin as a place to work (+27%)
 Quality of residential yard waste collection (+23%)
 Bulky item pick-up/removal services (+22%)
 Quality of residential curbside recycling services (+20%)
 Overall quality of services provided by City (+19%)
 City of Austin as a place to live (+19%)
 Condition of streets in your neighborhood (residential
streets) (+18%)
 Overall quality of customer service provided by City (+18%)
 Overall effectiveness of communication by City (+16%)
13
Notable INCREASES 2018-2019
Increases in Satisfaction with City Services
 Overall quality of City parks & recreation (+10%)
 Adequacy of street lighting in your community (+6%)
 Overall quality of Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (+4%)
 Overall quality of police services (+4%)
 Pedestrian accessibility (availability & level of convenience of
sidewalks & crosswalks) (+4%)
 Value of services received from Austin Energy (+4%)
 Overall quality of development review, permitting & inspection
services (+4%)

Increases in Other Areas Assessed on the Survey

 Access to quality mental health care you can afford (+11%)
 Access to quality childcare you can afford (+10%)
 Access to quality health care you can afford (+4%)
 Job opportunities that match my skills (+4%)
14